Obama denies $400M payment to Iran was ransom WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama vigorously denied on Thursday that a $400 million cash payment to Iran was ransom to secure the release of four Americans jailed in Tehran. He defended the transaction as evidence that the nuclear accord with Iran has allowed for progress on other matters. "This wasn't some nefarious deal," Obama said during a news conference at the Pentagon. The money was delivered to the Iranian government in January, at t...

Phelps to carry US flag during Olympic opening in Rio RIO DE JANEIRO — Michael Phelps has a lot of memorable moments at the Olympics. This one ranks right up there. Adding another honor to his remarkable career, Phelps was chosen to carry the U.S. flag in Friday night's opening ceremony at Maracana Stadium. The pick seemed obvious — Phelps, after all, is the most decorated athlete in Olympic history and will be competing in his fifth Summer Games — but he was clearly overwhelmed Wednesday after b...

FBI: Transit officer 1st lawman charged under US terror law ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Prosecutors brought the first-ever federal terrorism charges against a law enforcement officer in the U.S., alleging Wednesday that a patrol officer with the D.C. region's transit police bought about $250 worth of gift cards for someone he thought was working with the Islamic State group. Nicholas Young, 36, of Fairfax, was arrested Wednesday at Metro Transit Police headquarters in Washington and charged with a single count o...

Americans across board see divisionNEW YORK -- Neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump is seen as likely to unify the U.S. if elected, but pessimism about the Republican candidate is far greater, according to a poll released Monday that reflects deep division in the country. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 73 percent of Americans believe Trump will further divide the country, compared with 43 percent saying that about Clinton....

President: More work to do for veteransATLANTA -- President Barack Obama said Monday that the U.S. has made serious strides in improving services for military veterans, but work remains to overcome shortcomings in the delivery of health care, housing and mental health services. He called the nation's commitment to its veterans a "sacred covenant." "I don't use those words lightly. It's sacred because there is no more solemn request than to ask someone to risk their life, to be read...

Officials: 1 dead, 3 hurt in shootingAUSTIN, Texas -- A shooting in a crowded entertainment district in downtown Austin early Sunday caused a chaotic scene, leaving one woman dead and three others wounded and police searching for a suspect. Austin police say they want to question a 24-year-old possibly armed man in the overnight shootings. Police are circulating a photograph of a man described in a statement as a "person of interest." Austin Police Chief of Staff Brian Manley say...

U.S. airstrikes targeting IS militants in LibyaWASHINGTON -- The United States launched multiple airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Libya on Monday, opening a new, more persistent front against the group at the request of the United Nations-backed government, Libyan and U.S. officials said. Fayez Serraj, the head of Libya's U.N.-brokered presidency council, said in a televised statement that American warplanes attacked the IS bastion of Sirte on the Mediterranean in northern Lib...

FBI: 'Flip-flop bandit' linked to robberies in four statesLITTLE ROCK -- The FBI is seeking the public's help in identifying a serial bank robber whom investigators have dubbed the "flip-flop bandit." The FBI says the same man is linked to bank robberies this summer in Bryant and Morrilton in Arkansas and in Yukon, Oklahoma. In a flier , the FBI said the man is also suspected in three bank robberies in North Carolina and one in Knoxville, Tennessee. The suspect is described as a white, heavyset man, ...

Regardless of vote, Americans see divisionNEW YORK — Neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump is seen as likely to unify the U.S. if elected, but pessimism about the Republican candidate is far greater, according to a poll released Monday that reflects deep division in the country. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 73 percent of Americans believe Trump will further divide the country, compared with 43 percent saying that about Clinton. ...

'Zika is now here': Mosquitoes now spreading virus in USMIAMI — Mosquitoes have apparently begun spreading the Zika virus on the U.S. mainland for the first time, health officials said Friday, a long-feared turn in the epidemic that is sweeping Latin America and the Caribbean. Four recently infected people in the Miami area — one woman and three men — are believed to have contracted the virus locally through mosquito bites, Gov. Rick Scott said. No mosquitoes in Florida have actually been found to ...

Behavior changes suggest clues that dementia could be brewingWASHINGTON -- Memory loss may not always be the first warning sign that dementia is brewing -- changes in behavior or personality might be an early clue. Researchers on Sunday outlined a syndrome called "mild behavioral impairment" that may be a harbinger of Alzheimer's or other dementias, and proposed a checklist of symptoms to alert doctors and families. Losing interest in favorite activities? Getting unusually anxious, aggressive or suspici...

Lines form ahead of slain Louisiana deputy's serviceBATON ROUGE, La. -- Hundreds of people lined up Saturday to pay their respects to the family of a Louisiana sheriff's deputy killed by a gunman six days earlier. Deputy Brad Garafola and two Baton Rouge police officers were killed outside a convenience store less than a mile from police headquarters. The line of mourners snaked through hallways in the 1,500-seat sanctuary at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, out the back door and into th...

Report: U.S. wheat production much higher than expectedWICHITA, Kan. -- Growers are harvesting a bountiful winter wheat crop across the nation and in Kansas -- added bushels that will help farms' bottom line but dampen hopes for a quick turnaround in the dismal crop prices. The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Tuesday that it now expects the nation's wheat production to come in at 1.63 billion bushels. The government's forecast for the nation is up 8 percent from their estimate ju...

Obama pays tribute to Dallas officers shot in racial attack DALLAS (AP) — President Barack Obama urged Americans rattled by a week of violence and protests to find "open hearts" and new empathy Tuesday in a speech that seesawed between honoring police officers for their bravery and decrying racial prejudice that can affect their work. Obama spoke near five empty chairs for the police officers killed last week by a black man seeking vengeance for police killings. Behind him, underscoring his message of ...

Explanation behind deadly force by policeDeadly force occurs in less than 1 percent of the millions of encounters police have with people each year. A look at the laws and policies governing when police can use deadly force: When is force justified? There are two defining cases. In Tennessee v. Garner in 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an officer cannot use deadly force against a fleeing suspect unless the suspect is a significant threat to the officer or to others. Four year...

'America is weeping': Taking stock after 3 days of tragedyNEW YORK — Can this really be America in 2016? Three tumultuous days have brought echoes of decades past and made clear a public that elected a black president hasn't reconciled its fractured history with race, that a country that lived through unrest and assassinations in the 1960s and 1970s still bubbles with resentment and rage, and that bloody images of violent tragedy aren't going away. "America is weeping," said Rep. G.K. Butterfield, he...

Government urges owners of old Hondas to get air bags fixed DETROIT — The U.S. government is urging owners of 313,000 older Hondas and Acuras to stop driving them and get them repaired after new tests found that their Takata air bag inflators are extremely dangerous. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday that it has data showing that chances are as high as 50 percent that the inflators can explode in a crash, injuring people by sending metal shrapnel into the passenger compar...

Fading fishermen: A historic industry faces a warming worldSEABROOK, N.H. (AP) — The cod isn't just a fish to David Goethel. It's his identity, his ticket to middle-class life, his link to a historic industry. "I paid for my education, my wife's education, my house, my kids' education; my slice of America was paid for on cod," said Goethel, a 30-year veteran of these waters that once teemed with New England's signature fish. But on this chilly, windy Saturday in April, after 12 hours out in the Gulf o...

Firefighters advance on deadly central California wildfire LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. — Firefighters advanced Sunday on a wildfire in central California that has claimed two lives and burned 200 homes. Federal fire officials said containment on the 68-square-mile blaze increased from 10 percent to 40 percent. Some 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze, which destroyed many homes belonging to retirees on fixed incomes with few other possessions. "Most people here, this is all they had," said Daniel O'B...